As a design systems administrator I frequently have to answer questions as to why a system is running slow or how can I make AutoCAD or Civil 3D run faster. One of the first things I do is check the file size, location, and the references. One thing I love about the community is collaboration between all of us. A friend of mine at Autodesk asked me "have you tried checking the reference explorer"? Yes, I have the desktop connector for BIM360 but did not realize I could use the reference explorer to check drawings for all of their dependencies.
On the status bar right click on the Desktop Connector and then choose Reference Explorer.
If you do not have the desktop connector installed see the link at the end of this post for the current download.
Another window will pop up and you simply can drag your drawing file from windows explorer into the window.
Drag your drawing file into the window and wait for the action to complete the process. Depending on your file location and you connection this can take some time.
Once the process has been completed you will have a full list of all the references attached to the drawing and the status of that reference. The ones shown in red are missing and you can do some troubleshooting. This is a good way to explain to users how to effectively use xrefs and drefs and when there are too many in a file. Showing the user can give them a visual perspective on how many files that one drawing references.
I chose the list view as shown below. This is where you can review all of the details of the file including the number of files attached, dataset size, and missing references.
Click here to find out more information: Desktop Connector .
Click here to find release notes and download latest copy of Desktop Connector Update
The desktop connector is updated approximately once a month so check back frequently for changes and updates.
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